Al-Qaida's "Islamic State" Claims Suicide Bombing in Baghdad's Green Zone

By Evan Kohlmann

Al-Qaida's "Islamic State" has issued an official communique today claiming responsibility for yesterday's suicide bomb attack on Iraqi parliamentarians in the heavily-fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. According to the statement, Al-Qaida fighters had carefully studied their target before successfully infiltrating the Green Zone and dispatching a member of Al-Qaida's "Martyrs Brigade" wearing a suicide bomb vest. Additionally, Al-Qaida's "Islamic State" acknowledged a 24-hour delay in claiming responsibility in order to give the terror cell responsible for the attack a chance to safely escape.

Yesterday, as Rita Katz and the SITE Institute have noted, a false message claiming credit for the suicide bombing on behalf of Al-Qaida's "Islamic State" was posted online on the website muslm.net. I would echo their words in stating that, for the record, muslm.net is not used as an official distribution point by Al-Qaida--neither inside nor outside the borders of Iraq. There is simply no excuse for media outlets (or anyone else) who continue to recklessly quote sources on muslm.net and other online forums of questionable credibility. Al-Qaida has made it painfully obvious--in official statements, video recordings, and other material--which Internet forums it relies upon to release its propaganda and where its most loyal supporters and potential recruits tend to gather online. That short but notorious list need not be repeated here once again.

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